Greenwashed rhetoric is such a staple of the oil industry that it’s easy to assume every energy executive talking about climate and the transition to a zero-carbon economy is just mouthing words.

Royal Dutch Shell reported a small drop in first quarter profit to $5.4bn (€4.8bn), but still easily beat forecasts, helped by stronger trading and liquefied natural gas earnings.

US stocks bobbed higher today as technology and consumer-focused companies regained a sliver of their losses from the day before.

Some of the biggest companies in the world had their best day in years on Friday as Microsoft, Google and Amazon soared following strong third-quarter results.

Energy companies jumped with the price of oil on Wednesday, but overall stocks finished only slightly higher as a quiet week of trading continued.

BP’s profit nearly tripled in the first quarter of 2017 from a year earlier, buoyed by rising oil prices and production that hit a five-year high, while debt piled up in order to pay for acquisitions and costs for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill.

Wall Street capped a subdued day of trading today with a tiny gain and another milestone.

Supporters of a major free trade deal aimed at boosting trade in goods and services between the US and EU find themselves on the defensive following another big leak of secret documents.

The world’s biggest oil companies, set to report their worst quarterly earnings in more than a decade, are finding their cost-cutting efforts haven’t matched the decline in crude prices the past two years.

Global stocks and bond prices fell after a key US jobs report painted a mixed picture of the US labour market and left investors with a muddled view on rate-hike prospects.

Standing up to energy producers and getting them to leave fossil fuels in the ground is the only way to fight climate change globally, writes Lili Fuhr    

Oil is so much more than a fuel. It’s a force even bigger than its $3.4 trillion (€2.7trn) market. It’s a weapon, a strategic asset, a curse. It’s a maker and spoiler of fortunes, a leading indicator and an echo chamber.

The US stock market closed out its best week in nearly two years on a positive note today, helped by strong quarterly earnings from Microsoft and other big US companies.

A slump in energy stocks hit a rebound in Wall Street indexes yesterday as the price of oil plunged the most in two years.

Ireland’s only maritime college has set its sights on becoming the world’s first global training hub for officers of ocean-going super-tankers.

Oil giant Chevron is to cut 225 jobs in Aberdeen as it reorganises its North Sea operations.

Ireland’s maritime training college will sign a landmark €2m training contract with one of the world’s largest shipping companies in Texas today.

Get Batman on the case! Joker strikes Gotham and makes off with road sign

Stocks on Wall Street ended mostly higher yesterday despite the US government’s latest jobs report, which showed a sharp decline in hiring last month.

China may boast the world’s largest potential reserves of shale gas but is likely to lose to Australia in the race to be second behind the US in bringing significant production on line.

Positive news on the US economy outweighed worries about Syria, sending the stock market higher for a second straight day.

With a blue chip client base of some of the world’s top oil, gas and mining companies, and with its work backlog valued at $2.73bn, engineering group Kentz is confident about its growth plans, CEO Christian Brown tells John Daly

Oil giant BP is weighing up whether to commit up to £3.7bn (€4.61bn) on a plan to revive its flagging share price, it was reported today.

An interim examiner has been appointed to a company that runs training courses, often aimed at unemployed people wishing to upskill.

Suffering from cancer, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez faces an intense re-election campaign this year.Will the extravagant leader prevail in the oil-rich nation, asks Richard Fitzpatrick

Take a leaf out of our book Germany

NIGERIA’S two main oil unions threatened to shut output in Africa’s top crude producer as a national strike entered its fourth day, mounting pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan to restore fuel subsidies.

The worst week for the US stock market in two months ended with a whimper in thin trading today.

Nearly 110,000 gallons of oil may have spilled into the Atlantic Ocean because of a leak at an offshore Chevron drilling site, Brazil’s environmental protection agency said.

MY colleagues and I recently attended a briefing by a company named Kentz.

LAST week, while filling in for Vincent Browne on TV 3, I stumbled across a current controversy.

CLONMEL engineering firm Kentz posted a 50% rise in first-half pre-tax profit, driven by its construction and technical support services units, and said it expected to exceed its previous targets for the full year.

US stocks continued a week-long slide today after a dismal report on economic growth added to the anxiety.

Graeme McDowell is looking forward to the start of what he calls “the big show” – two rounds with Tiger Woods in The Masters at Augusta.

THE Dow hit a seven-month low last night as increases in jobless claims and the trade deficit and a slowdown in China’s export growth spurred concern the economy may falter.

A former BP drilling operations chief resigned just months before last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill amid disagreements over the oil giant's commitment to safety, a class-action lawsuit says.

Fresh speculation linking BP to an opportunistic takeover bid from rival Royal Dutch Shell sparked a surge in shares at the beleaguered firm today.

A US judge ordered urgent tests on the cement contractor Halliburton used to seal the BP oil well that blew out catastrophically in the Gulf of Mexico.

Contractor Halliburton admitted today that it skipped a crucial test on the final formulation of cement used to seal the BP oil well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico.